nearly everybody makes New Year's resolutions however 97% of those resolutions are broken within 30 days so I even bother everybody wants to be happier healthier and more productive but they often don't know how to get there in this video you'll see a tried-and-true process for actually carrying out your resolve to improve your life one week at a time [Music] [Applause] you're looking at this scene through what photographers call a wide-angle lens they use this kind of lens to capture the big picture now you are looking through a telephoto lens which is used to bring objects
very close now you see me through a standard lens that gives you a normal human perspective most people live as if they were looking at life through a telephoto lens they live hour to hour day to day looking at their lives through the lens of what's immediately in front of them and what's most pressing and urgent right now imagine walking down the street while looking through a telephoto lens we would focus only on the immediate threat or the passing impulse we would live from crisis to crisis dealing only with urgent things mistaken them for the
important things the telephoto lens perspective would not allow us to focus on what's truly important on the big picture of our lives the big picture is what's ultimately important to us our life mission our organizational vision our long-term quadrant two priorities but we can't focus all the time on the big picture either if we don't translate our vision into action we lose touch with reality we become dreamers and end up neglecting the very details that enable our vision to come true so how do we stay focused day to day without losing sight of the big
picture the week is the normal lens that gives the most manageable perspective you see the week represents a complete patch in the fabric of life there are work days evenings the weekend it's close enough to be highly relevant but distant enough to provide context and perspective I mean what you can't do in one day you might be able to do in another and over the course of a week you can balance your life if you were to ask me what single practice would do more to balance your life and increase your productivity than any other
it would be this plan your week each week before the week begins take twenty or thirty minutes alone in a quiet place to go through these three steps first write down the important roles you play in your life roles represent your key relationships your areas of responsibility you may have the roles of being a manager of new products a friend a community volunteer a family member and don't forget yourself you have an obligation to take care of yourself to sharpen your own saw organizing your life around the many roles you play will help you maintain
balance and focus on your key relationships rather than focusing on tasks and things second choose the big rocks these are weekly quadrant two goals for each of your roles look back at the big picture your mission statement and your long-range goals and select those big rocks that will have the greatest impact on your mission and goals and for each role ask yourself the big rock question what is the most important thing I could do in this role this week that would make the most positive difference Princessa might be to complete the budget this week it
might be to help a child resolve a problem or to attend a conference where you will learn new ideas you need for your job you see these big rocks will almost always be quadrant 2 activities in essence you're creating your quadrant to plan for the week so that your highest priorities don't get pushed aside by the urgent finally schedule the big rocks block out time now in your calendar for those big rocks before the week fills up other activities then schedule your other activities around the big rocks I once asked the managers of a struggling
shopping center the big rock question what one thing could you do that you absolutely know would have a significant positive impact on your business their answer was unanimous and immediate improve their deteriorating relationships with their tenants they were the store owners in the shopping center then I asked them how much time they spent doing those kinds of things it was less than 5% oh they had all kinds of reasons they had meetings to go to reports to make out email to answer so you know what they did they set up a goal to spend one
third of each week activity helping store owners with their problems after about a year and a half the effect was dramatic and profound the numbers went up and they had a waiting list for new tenants this is the power of putting first things first every week these quadrant one and quadrant three things that creep into your schedule won't overpower the more significant quadrant two things once you've scheduled your big rocks for each week then each day you can zoom in and prioritize your daily tasks and appointments you see with the right process and the right
tools for weekly planning literally you can organize and execute every week of your life around your deepest quadrant two priorities you will spend your time on those things that matter most never losing that big picture perspective that makes your life so rich and so meaningful you
